Acrylamide monomer leaching from polyacrylamide-treated irrigation furrows.
Water-soluble anionic polyacrylamide (WSPAM), which is used to reduce erosion in furrow irrigated fields and other agriculture applications, contains less than 0.05% acrylamide monomer (AMD). Acrylamide monomer, a potent neurotoxicant and suspected carcinogen, is readily dissolved and transported in flowing water. The study quantified AMD leaching losses from a WSPAM-treated corn (Zea mays L.) field using continuous extraction-walled percolation samplers buried at 1.2 m depth. The samplers were placed 30 and 150 m from the inflow source along a 180-m-long corn field. The field was furrow irrigated using WSPAM at the rate of 10 mg L(-1) during furrow advance. Percolation water and furrow inflows were monitored for AMD during and after three furrow irrigations. The samples were analyzed for AMD using a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron-capture detector. Furrow inflows contained an average AMD concentration of 5.5 microg L(-1). The AMD in percolation water samples never exceeded the minimum detection limit and the de facto potable water standard of 0.5 microg L(-1). The risk that ground water beneath these WSPAM-treated furrow irrigated soils will be contaminated with AMD appears minimal.
Lentz
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RD
USDA-ARS, Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Lab., 3793 N 3600 E, Kimberly, ID 83341, USA. rick.lentz@ars.usda.gov
Andrawes
F F
FF
Barvenik
F W
FW
Koehn
A C
AC
D020106:Acrylamide / Q000737:chemistry*; D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014872:Water Movements; D014881:Water Supply; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
D020106:Acrylamide; D000180:Acrylic Resins; D014867:Water; D000099166:Polyacrylamides